Panasonic Blinking Power light of Death

I have Panasonic Viera 42inch plasma TH42PZ77U. It is 14 months old. Love the picture and I got good deal on it. One day, I simply couldn't power it up. No reason whatsoever. The power light blinked 10 times code. I tried to fix it at home myself. Did everything, you name it - reset - unpluged from outlet for several minutes - hold the power button for 5 seconds - even shaked it a little . Than I tried to connect it to different power outlet. Because I had only one outlet that would reach my TV, I had to use extension cord to reach another outlets. It did not work, no other outlets seem to make any difference. I decided to take the TV to a service shop for repair than. When I brought it over, the repair man pluged it in and the TV worked! I wondered why and so I took the TV back home and here is what the problem was: my TV was connected to a surge power strip with another equipment like DVD, Cable box and gaming device. On same line but different outlet, I had window air conditioner which draws lot's of electricity. When I tried different outlets I used extension cord. That didn't work as I meantioned before.

Anyways, the conclusion is: this TV DOES NOT like extension cords, power strips and should be connected DIRECTLY to the power outlet!!!

Pretty simply huh? Worked for me! Hope this helps at least for some of you people out there! It cost you nothing to try this.

This is why I tell people to unplug the electronic device first for a couple of hours and not just minutes to allow it to reset.

It very well could be that the outlet on the surge that it was plugged into was faulty or some other strange thing since it use to work before right? I would NOT leave an expensive TV plugged directly into the wall and you should get another surge protector and try that. It could be that your power is fluctuating so you may need a 1200VA UPS to smooth out such fluctuations if a new surge does not work.

I told them politely thats fine I will wait to see what the repair facility gives as a verbal estimate based on 6 flash.
But I also know that there can always be more wrong.

I told them as well I won't pay to fix it.
Its got to be around a four hundred to six hundred dollar repair in Canada land.
There is no excuse for a 2 grand tv to do his a year and eight months out.

My guess its will be the power board maybe gone now.

Sorry to here about your problem and I agree that a $2k display should not last only 18-20 months. If I were you, I would mention this to a supervisor and if they do not cover it, then move up the ladder until someone does make an offer on some reduction in repair costs. Technically, a 1 year warranty is a 1 year warranty, so they legally do not have to do this, but if this was the normal life I doubt anyone would be buying such expensive displays. I thought Canada had a minimum 2 year warranty on things?

Despite Panasonic having the highest reliability ratings they still will have some break downs. Hopefully since they do not have to do it as often being the most reliable they can help you.

It is a known failure mode on Panny Plasma. they are very few but considering the number of plasma they sell it is lot, my opinion is manufacturer should not be allowed to advertise the the life of panel 100K hours if supporting equipment fails at 10K-20K hours. If they advertise then they have to have test result verifying it.
It is misleading to consumer as they believe that set is reliable.

my opinion is manufacturer should not be allowed to advertise the the life of panel 100K hours if supporting equipment fails at 10K-20K hours. If they advertise then they have to have test result verifying it.
It is misleading to consumer as they believe that set is reliable.

They also should not be able to quote the black level of the display when the measurement was taken with the set turned off but that is what some manufacturers do.....................Gee, I dont recall being able to watch the picture while the set is in off mode...

the black level or the contrast is so misleading it is not even worth looking at any more, no they advertise infinite contrast ratio so there is no comparison any more.

panasonic blinking red failure is known fact and is happening on their plamsa sets from 06 till now, consumers who bought a plasma in 06 would have paid at least 3 to 4K and if it fails now it is not good, one can not keep buying extended warranty to keep your TV running.

From what I have read, this is a pretty small number of displays that have gotten this considering they sell more plasmas than the next two biggest sellers of plasmas combined.

Of course if you happen to be one of the unlucky ones then that truly does stink. I think there are many more clouding issues, pink colored whites, etc etc. than there are people that get this problem.

They really should offer a warranty longer than 1 year on these expensive HDTVs though IMO. I doubt many would buy a HDTV if they only thought they would last 1-2 years.

After getting the "10 blinks of death", I read this and other forums for help. I regret to report that after a lengthy process with Panasonic, I found the resolution to be unsatisfactory at best.

In short, they will cover 1/2 of $520 power supply replacement bill on a TV that is 15mos old. While pragmatically not a bad call on Panny's part, I disagree with their short-term view of this problem: I exepcted better from Panasonic.

Yes, 1 yr warranty is 1 yr warranty. However, as many of you pointed out, one does not expect this type of (wide spread problems) from a premium TV.

If you would like to approach Panasonic as a single voice of many dissapointed customers (who would likely think twice about buying another Panasonic TV), please send me an email with:

Your TV model
Purchase Date
How long before failure
Nature of failure (how many blinks)
Whether you are satisfied with resolution, if any
email address or any other contact info to be forwarded to Panasonic

to: panasonictvsucks @ gmail (sorry - a bit crass but wanted to get their attention)

I will forward any information to the famed "Team 10" in hopes that they will see first hand how they are destroying their brand. Perhaps this could result in a recall or at the minimum a better future treatment of the customers when their timebombs go off... into the blinking light of death.

BTW, I've always been a Pioneer bigot, purely because I preferred their picture quality. This was my first Panasonic (it fit perfectly into a TV slot where a Pioneer wouldn't). For what it's worth, I've enjoyed this Panny very much - great picture at what I thought was a good value. Too bad the honeymoon was so short lived.

Sorry to hear about your issue. I do not think this problem is a "widespread' problem as you are eluding to, but it is nice that they are at least covering 1/2 the cost since it is out of warranty. Too bad they are not covering all of it as I think they should considering no one would buy such expensive TVs if they thought they would only be good for the 1 year they are warranted for.

There are far more satisfied Panasonic customers (myself included) than there are dissappointed customers. I can't say the same for any other manufacturer with the exception of Pioneer. Try dealing with Samsung if you have a faulty display.....good luck.

I can understand your problem with Panasonic.... I'd be pissed too but I doubt your going to get a substantial number of complaints against one of the best HDTV manufacturers known to date. You should have got the extended warranty

.....just goes to show that you can't please everyone all the time.

__________________*19" floor model Zenith(color)* no need for surround sound just yet because the speakers on my TV haven't completely deteriated yet (thanks to duct tape) and there seems to be a lack of S-video and composites * 3 way co-ax splitter to run components * GE VCR (top spring loaded) * UHS antenna (bow tie) * Atari * tabletop tuner with cord running to the tube and 33 channels of glorious SD.

PFC5 and Gamebred: tnx for your notes. Yeah, I guess I should've bought the extended warranty. I still stand by my position that Panasonic should treat their customers better than this. Perhaps they will going fwd if enough speak up.